All Hallows' Eves
by differentfromtherest
Summary: Seven-shot. All set on October 31st, Marauders' Era. What did and didn't change through the years.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I was JKR, I'd be thrilled, but I'm not, so no one and nothing here belongs to me, they belong to her, the genius writer we all love.

* * *

The Halloween night at Hogwarts is always impressive. For those who are there for the first time, even more. It's not something that can truly be told or written about. The magic of the witches' and wizards' day celebration can only be felt there. Some of the first-years were particularly excited.

–Can you guys think of a better day for us to play great pranks? – James Potter asked his friends.

–Well, since you've been doing this almost every day now, I don't see why you would even have to bother about best moments – Remus Lupin rolled his eyes at James.

–But Remus, - said a dark-haired boy next to them, Sirius Black – these are our coolest, long-planned pranks, we should play them today. A day that's dedicated to magic.

–And you're honoring magic by using it to play pranks. A great dedication, isn't it?

–At least I have one friend that gets it. – James looked excited – these are great pranks, we've been planning them for the past two weeks. – he turned to another friend – What do you think, Peter?

–I think you're right, James.

–If you are really going to do this, go ahead. But I won't be taking part at all, get it?

–Whatever you want, Remus, whatever you want. Keep yourself out of all the fun, as usual. – Sirius looked annoyed and Remus just rolled his eyes again.

–I don't see what's fun about this.

The boys had known each other for only a couple of months so far and despite all of their differences, they were becoming great friends.

Remus, the one who didn't take part in pranks so often, looked distant and his friends kept talking about their plans for the day. Meanwhile, three girls were coming downstairs.

–Oh, Lily, you're going to love how wizards celebrate Halloween – Alice, chatty as always, was loving to tell her muggleborn friend how Halloween at wizards' places was.

–It does sound amazing, Alice.

–Plus, Hogwarts' dinner is probably going to be even better than usual. At home, we always used to have a great Halloween dinner. My cousin said here it's amazing, too.

–You and your food obsession, Emme. – said Alice and Lily laughed.

–Hey, I'm not obsessed. – Emmeline poked her friend. – And you wouldn't be laughing so much if you could see who's behind you, Lily.

–Hello, Evans.

–Merlin, Potter, why do you have to ruin the beginning of my day with your presence?

–I say the same to you, Evans.

–So, who are you going to make fun of today? How many people will be embarrassed because of the idea you have of fun?

–You know, I haven't decided yet …

–You're such a child, Potter, grow up.

–Stop being so annoying, Evans.

He pointed his wand at her and opened his mouth to pronounce a at the same time, she pointed hers at him and screamed

–Petrificus Totalus!

He stood there, frozen, for a second, then fell like a statue. Everyone at the Common Room was staring at them now.

–Don't even try, Potter, don't even try.

And then she walked through the passage, followed by her friends.

* * *

A few minutes later, on the way to their Potions Class, Sirius was making fun of James.

–You should have seen your face when she pronounced the spell. You looked shocked.

–Yeah, yeah, I know, she embarrassed me in front of the whole Gryffindor Common Room. – James was angry at Lily, but also feeling humiliated.

–Maybe you shouldn't have started it on the first place. You were going to put a spell on her, she just reacted – Remus tried to say.

–In which team are you, Remus? – James replied – So now she gets to be annoying to all the time, for Merlin's sake and I just have to get over it. There's no way I'm going to accept this so easily. From now on, she's my target for a prank today.

–Are you sure this is a good idea, James? – asked Peter.

–I couldn't be more sure, Peter. Let's see how good she is then.

* * *

Professor Slughorn was walking through the class to comment on the students' potions.

–Well done again, Miss Evans.

–Thanks, Professor. – she smiled politely.

Severus Snape, who was working next to her, also got a compliment.

–Hey, Sev, we did it great again – she seemed very happy.

I think we're getting really good at it, Lily.

A few feet away, James overheard the conversation.

–Show offs – he said to Sirius.

–Huh, James, I think you're doing something really wrong.

–What?

–No, really, look at your cauldron. It's not exactly like the way it should be.

James turned to his cauldron, only to see it exploding and the potion flying all over Sirius, himself, Lily and Snape.

–JAMES POTTER, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?

–Miss Evans, why are you screaming? – Professor Sçughorn, who was looking the other way, turned to them and saw all the mess. – Everyone stay calm.

–IT'S BURNING – screamed Sirius.

–Potter, Black, Evans, Snape, go see Ms Pomfrey, now.

They all exited the classroom. When they got to the Hospital Wing, Ms Pomfrey informed them they would have to stay there for some time so that she could take care of their burns. When she left the room to get the potion, Lily couldn't help but yell at James.

–It's all your fault, Potter. How can you be so irresponsible? Of course, you weren't paying attention to what you were doing, like always.

–You don't know anything about it, shut up, Evans.

–Stop talking to her like this, Potter. – Snape defended his friend.

–Kids, be quiet, you need to rest. I'll let you go in a few hours.

* * *

At the end of the day, Sirius and James were ready for the pranks, despite a minor delay caused by the time they had spent in the Hospital Wing.

–You won't give up, will you? – Remus asked them.

–No way, Remus, no way.

–Let's go to dinner, shall we? – said Peter.

When James and Sirius were walking through the castle, they performed their first prank. A group of first-year Slytherins was calmly walking on the hallway when James, hiding under his cloak with his friend, pointed his wand at a statue and muttered some words. Suddenly, the statue next to them started to move, scaring the students. Meanwhile, the two friends ran away and took the cloak off when no one could see them anymore.

They met Remus and Peter at the Great Hall.

–Were you able to set everything up, Peter? – asked Sirius.

–Yes, it'll work at any minute.

–Great.

A few minutes later, the Great Hall was full of people to start dinner. Lily, Alice and Emme were taking their places and talking about the day.

–That must have been terrible, Lily.

–Indeed, it was. It was burning my skin. I'm glad I'm okay now, though.

Then a scream came from Slytherin's table. A boy tried to get his glass, but it suddenly jumped from the table and started to pour the drink on him. The entire room looked at him, most of them laughing, but Professor Flitwick quickly stopped the spell.

* * *

Later, in the Common Room, James was talking to his friends about the pranks. Lily entered the room and went straight at James' direction.

–I know you did it, I know it was you.

–Oh, really?

–Don't try to deny it. I know it was you because there's no one else that could possibly be this selfish and immature.

–And I don't know anyone that could be as annoying as you, Evans.

When she turned away to the girls' stairs, he lifted his wand and cast a spell on her. She realized something was wrong because of the looks everyone else was giving her. She looked ran to the window to see her reflection. Her red hair had become pumpkin-orange. And it was shining.

–You are the ideal Halloween lantern, Evans. Or, should I call you pumpkin head from now on?

–POTTER, UNDO THIS, NOW!

But James just kept laughing. Lily was still yelling at him when Emme finally was able to undo the spell.

Lily furiously walked to the stairs, but on her way, she yelled again, at the top of her lungs.

–I hate you, James Potter, I hate you. You're the worst person I've ever met.


End file.
